Category: children

February 28, 2014

Skinfix: Natural Skin Care for All Your Skin Needs

Do you suffer from dry skin? Eczema? Are you familiar with the Skinfix name?

Skinfix is a Canadian company who specializes in all natural balms for the entire family. The products are centuries old (they came over from England with family!) and are composed of wound healing botanicals and emollient protective oils. They provide instant relief while soothing and repairing skin affected by eczema, dermatitis, diaper rash, minor bedsores, adult incontinence rash, pressure ulcers and other common skin conditions. They can treat the acute flare ups but also chronic conditions.

Skinfix has four all natural balms: Body Repair Balm, Diaper Rash Balm, Gentle Eczema Balm, Rapid Repair Balm.

Their Body Repair Balm is used to treat dryness and irritation. Eczema and dermatitis flare ups tend to get worse in the cold weather. These conditions affect 1 in 5 adults!

The Diaper Rash Balm is used to treat irritated and raw skin from the constant exposure to wetness and irritants. The balm is formulated specifically to safely halt diaper rashes on the spot. Have to add in the diaper rash balm is nut free! Check out the graph below comparing the most popular brands of diaper rash creams. You can find the original graph here. The Diaper Rash Balm is also a PTPA Award winner!

The Gentle Eczema Balm is perfect for the red and itchy rashes that affect at least 20% of newborn babies. The balm is formulated for their delicate skin and helps reduce chronic flare ups. It is infused with oatmeal and is nut and soy free. Their Gentle Eczema Balm is also a PTPA Award winner!

The Rapid Repair balm helps to sooth and protect skin from wetness, friction and irritation. This balm is perfect for the everyday skin conditions. These skin conditions range from skin chafing, wetness in skin folds, minor burns, razor burns and post waxing.

My favourite features of Skinfix are the thick texture of the product which allows you to feel it working. Only a small amount is needed each time – a little truly goes a long way with these products. Since they do not contain water like moisturizers they last on the skin longer and less is required. It is all natural (such a bonus!) and no steroids.

Skinfix products are dermatologist tested, pediatrician tested, steroid free, fragrance free, gluten free, paraben free, phthalate free and BPA free packaging.You can purchase them online here.

Disclosure: I am a Skinfix Ambassador. I received no compensation for this post besides bringing a fantastic product to you! Clicking on the above links will take you to my affiliate page but I receive no compensation from this unless an order is placed.

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February 21, 2014

Learning Languages with Langmobile #Review and #Giveaway

Learning a second language is a high priority to me for my children. It is a fantastic skill for them to carry forward into their school and later on their professional careers. For me knowing that language acquisition is easiest during the ages of zero to five, puts a little bit of pressure to get started early!. This is often called the “critical period”. Yet I still want them to have fun and enjoy learning a second language – not the second language classes I had where we had to memorize conjugating verbs but never learned to understand and speak Italian!

Langmobile is based out of Saint-Lambert, Quebec. They offer high quality workshops in music, yoga, English, Italian, French and Spanish, along with pre-school activities and camps. Langmobile has developed a program that helps parents bond and interact with their children while teaching a second language. Langmobile actively includes parents in the learning process to help learn and teach them at the same time. They have taken the research that they have put into their programs and developed an incredible app that assists parents in teaching children English, Spanish and French.
The Langmobile app incorporates new teaching methods that place the interaction between parent and child at the core of the learning process. The Langmobile app features fifty lessons in English, Spanish and French. Each lesson contains a video, song and printable materials (teaching sheets, colouring sheets and more!). The apps use adults to bring languages to life. The apps feature original music composed by Langmobile’s team of experts.
yoga , music workshops, English classes, Italian classes, French classes, Spanish classes, Saturday classes, after school activities, preschool activities, day camps and specialized services to CPE and private Daycares – See more at: http://www.langmobile.com/quality-workshops/#sthash.hbdLhMKb.dpuf
yoga , music workshops, English classes, Italian classes, French classes, Spanish classes, Saturday classes, after school activities, preschool activities, day camps and specialized services to CPE and private Daycares – See more at: http://www.langmobile.com/quality-workshops/#sthash.hbdLhMKb.dpuf
When I first download an app I like to spend a couple of hours looking through the app myself to allow myself to become familiar with the teaching aspect, how it works and so on. As soon as I opened the app up and let the first video play my children came running (both my two and nine year old!) at the energetic music and singing! They were engrossed in the app!

My favourite features of the app were:

  • easy and quick download
  • music was energetic and great at catching my children’s attention
  • repetitive; allowing the words to be easily learned
  • informative parent guide with instructions on how to use each word/video, including also colouring books, craft activities, activities on the go, lyrics, words to practice and cards to print out
  • the parent guide allows you to minimize the amount of time spent directly on the app itself for parents that are worried about too much screen time
  • loved that I was able to interact and be part of the learning process (versus just reading it aloud and hoping they absorb what you are reading to them)
  • incredibly fun way to learn a new language (all of us were dancing and singing along!)
  • even though it is designed for teaching children 0-5 years of age, my nine year old loved it as well!
  • easy to navigate between pages on the app
  • app is designed to be able to download onto Apple devices and Android

Langmobile is offering four individuals a chance to win their own copy of the app! US and CAN residents can enter via the Rafflecopter below.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this app in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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February 20, 2014

Knights and Princesses: Crafts with Cathy ThinkingOutLoud

Sticking with our medieval theme this week, Cathy from Cathy Thinking Out Loud has brought us a fun craft to make with our little knights and princesses! Using the template ideas from below you can create stand up medieval characters for your children to play with.

You Will Need:

  • white blank paper
  • your choice of pencil crayons, crayons or paint
  • glue stick
  • Popsicle sticks (small ones)
  • scissors

Instructions

  1.  Print out or copy the figures at the beginning of the post.
  2.  Colour in the figure with your choice of crayons, markers or paint. Allow to dry.
  3. Cut out the shape. Fold the base in half.
  4. Attach two Popsicle sticks to the base and one along the middle pointing upwards.


Enjoy your Knight and Princess!

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February 12, 2014

Homemade Valentine’s Day Picture Frame Cards #shop #cbias

This Valentine’s Day craft is a part of the Valentine Crafts with Kids campaign for the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop & post have been compensated as a part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser. All opinions on this blog are my own.

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop #cbias


Craft time is always fun time in our house. We love spending hours painting, colouring and using crafts as a teaching tool. Crafts are important for developing fine motor skills in children, expressing their creativity and can also be used as a successful learning tool.

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching we set upon the task of coming up with a creative way to send our loved ones Valentine’s Day cards for this #CollectiveBias campaign. We wanted something unique and different from the typical Valentine’s Day cards.

So what did we come up with? We decided to create picture frame cards! So we headed off to Walmart to explore their Art Supplies section.

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

There were so many craft supplies to choose from when we were there – the possibilities were endless. This is one of the reasons why I love shopping at our local Walmart. Our little one kept pulling everything off the shelves that he could get his little hands on he was that excited!

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

And now for our craft!

You Will Need:
Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

Instructions:

1. Paint wooden frame with desired colours. You can also choose to make a pattern on the frame as well. To do so you must first outline the design on the frame with pencil lightly. Remember to paint the lighter paint on first. Allow the frame to dry.

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

2. Paint five of the small popsicle sticks in a different colour. Allow the sticks to dry.

3.  Write on two of the sticks, “Happy Valentine’s Day”, on one stick “2014” and on the final two sticks “I Love You, Love <insert your child’s name>. Make sure to use pen and not a marker as the marker will bleed.

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

4. Glue the sticks to the felt and cut the pieces out in an oval like shape.

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

5. Before gluing anything down, arrange all the material on the frame where you would like it to be placed. When you are happy with the design – start gluing! The Elmer’s felt stickers were awesome, you just have to peel off the back and place them down. Made the whole process so much simpler for my little ones.

6. Insert photo on the back of the picture frame.

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

Voila! A perfect Valentine’s Day card personalized just for your loved ones! 

Valentine's Day Picture Frame Cards #shop

Valentine’s Day is a special day for families, friends and partners. It is a day where we can go above and beyond to show those we love how much we appreciate having them in our life. A moment to slow down in our busy lives and truly live in the moment.

“Valentine, just a few words to tell you how I love you. I have loved you since the first day I saw you. Whenever that was.” — Charles M. Schulz

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February 11, 2014

Craft Time #WW

With all this cold weather and my children being sick we have spent quite a few hours indoors lately. This past week we have done so many crafts so I wanted to showcase them in action.

I would love to visit your Wordless Wednesday Post so please link up below! Have a wonderful day!

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